|
For World Vision, "home improvement" means community development. Projects can be anything from well drilling and school construction to microenterprise loans and agricultural training--all chosen by community residents to make their lives better. The following stories show how people have partnered with World Vision and one another to transform their circumstances.
 Hurricane Mitch left unprecedented destruction--some Central American countries recorded more than 70 inches of rain falling in a scant four days. This young Honduran boy, one of hundreds of thousands left homeless by the storm, stands in the ruins of his home.
Killer Storm Devastates Central American Countries
No one who saw the pictures in October 1998 doubted that Hurricane Mitch was a storm like no other. It left a swath of destruction through Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. In concert with governments and other humanitarian groups, World Vision immediately launched a massive relief effort, especially concerned for the thousands of sponsored children and families in our area development projects (ADPs).
Relief efforts included providing medicines and medical teams, damage assessment, food and emergency supplies, as well as bedding. Once the initial relief phase ended, World Vision was committed to help rebuild shattered communities and lives.
Rebuilding Is a Community Effort
"We are working on the construction of new houses here, with faith in God that we will complete them," says 43-year-old Maximo Elvir, who lives in La Barranca with his wife, Maria Nicolasa. World Vision is helping families, including Maximo's, rebuild homes they lost in the storm. World Vision supplies the building materials and machinery, and community members provide the labor in a food-for-work exchange.
In addition, World Vision has sent three teams to the area to provide people with medicines and medical care since the floodwaters put them at risk of disease. World Vision also has repaired the potable water system, latrines, and the main road.
The Martinez Alvarez family stands in front of one of the homes under construction in the El Trapiche Area Development Project in Honduras. The new building includes a large kitchen, living room, two bedrooms, and a dining room.
La Barranca is one of 17 communities in the El Trapiche ADP that serves a population of 7,200 people. There are 2,758 sponsored children in the project, including the three Elvir children--Jose Angel, 13; Keiver Melissa, 5; and Gricelda, 3. In this region Hurricane Mitch destroyed some 190 homes. But World Vision and the people are working together, planning to rebuild their community and a total of 160 dwellings.
 Living Is Difficult in Bangkok's Slums
Sometimes rebuilding a home requires more than physical labor; it means helping people find the best way to support their families. Before World Vision started working in Thailand's community of Senanikom 2, a slum area near Bangkok, most families did not earn enough money to take care of their daily needs. Many women tried earning extra income by sewing small rugs, fetching about 14 cents each. For some families, those few pennies at least kept them one step ahead of starvation.
Sakulrat Sirimongkol, 32, and her family were no exception. Income from her husband's work as an appliance repairman and electrical wiring installer was unstable, often taking him overseas. Day after day they never knew whether they would have enough money for food, rent, and other expenses. So Sakulrat decided to sew rugs to help her husband.
"Life was very difficult," Sakulrat remembers. Parents like Sakulrat could not afford to send their children to school. In response, World Vision first supported the children's education in the community and provided uniforms, book bags, shoes, and other necessary supplies, reducing the expenses each family had to bear.
Savings Group and Small Loans Improve Incomes
World Vision then helped women in the community form a savings group. Once Sakulrat became a member, she was able to borrow money to start her own rug production business. This meant that she could sell directly to middlemen, who would then sell the rugs to department stores. Suddenly, Sakulrat was making 41 cents per rug. Her business increased the family's monthly income from approxi-mately US$150 to more than US$250.
 With the increased income Sakulrat was able to pay for her eldest son to attend secondary school, pay the family's daily expenses, and still have enough left over to save more than $8 per month toward her children's future education. Sakulrat's greatest joy, however, is that her husband no longer travels far from home to find work.
Two women from Thailand's Senanikom 2 savings group work on rugs--the small business that has increased their families' incomes.
 The living conditions of the families have vastly improved since World Vision began working here in 1988. Families have jobs and a stable income. People like Sakulrat can cover their monthly expenses and afford to provide an education for their children. As this project needs less support, World Vision will turn its attention elsewhere to help others escape poverty's fierce grip, creating opportunities that can nurture future generations.
In Sudan, a World Vision team drills a well. The clean water improves children's chances to survive and provides women, the ones whose task it is to retrieve water daily, with more time for their families and cultivating crops.
Next (Related through Faith)
|